Bob Coulson Posted 17 April , 2003 Share Posted 17 April , 2003 I know this is a really long shot but John Mollison 8th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment is the only name remaining on my local memorial who I have not been able to track down and put together some details. Very few Mollisons on CWGC or SDCD-ROM and can find none with a Yorkshire Regt connection. If anyone could turn up any info at all, I would be very grateful. Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jock Bruce Posted 17 April , 2003 Share Posted 17 April , 2003 Bob, there are 5 in the 1901 Census for England and Wales, as follows (always remembering that the transcription of the 1901 Census has some imperfections) Name/ Age/ Where Born/ Administrative County/ Civil Parish/ Occupation John Mollison/15 /Hants Portsmouth /Devon /Plymstock /Shipwrights Apprentice John Mollison /23 /Manchester Lanc /Lancaster /Salford /Grocers Assistant John Mollison /29 /Scotland/ /Poplar /Night Watchman John Mollison /31 /Lancs Manchester /Lancaster/ Prestwich /Manager In Shipping House John Mollison /44 /Aberdeenshire/ ... London /St Clement Danes /Retired Hotel Keeper Dunno if any of these 'fit' at all but no Yorks connection leaps out. I'll be looking at the 1901 Census for Scotland sometime over Easter - let me know if you want the Mollisons from that. Jock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coulson Posted 18 April , 2003 Author Share Posted 18 April , 2003 Jock, Thanks for your efforts. None of the men you mention seem to fit the bill, I am looking for a N/E England Middlesbrough link for John Mollison. If you don't mind looking the Scottish census may throw something up. Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin Posted 19 April , 2003 Share Posted 19 April , 2003 Bob By the 1901 census there was some Mollison's in Surrey that where born in Stockton and one in the Middlesbrough area, non John thou. Footnote to this Bob, my own Grandfather was born in Maske in 1895 but the whole of his family do not show up on the census, i can only pick them up again in 1914 when he shows back up in Middlesbrough. If i can check the Libary the old Gazzete for you Bob let me know, give me a year to work from and i might be able to come up with something. Regards Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin Posted 19 April , 2003 Share Posted 19 April , 2003 Bob Have checked the births at the Middlesbrough,Stockton,Hartlepool and Guisborough Register office's, sorry to say no John Mollison shows up. Theres a William born in 1886 then the next is Charles in 1913 non in between. Regards Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coulson Posted 19 April , 2003 Author Share Posted 19 April , 2003 Kevin, Very good of you to do these look-ups for me thanks very much. I've tried all variations of spellings but to no avail with tracking him down. He is the only man on my local (Normanby) memorial who I cannot trace, very frustrating but hopefully one day I will find him. Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jock Bruce Posted 21 April , 2003 Share Posted 21 April , 2003 Bob, nothing in the Scottish census that leaps out. 20-odd John Mollisons of about the right age to serve in WW1 listed in the 1901 census but, of course, no connection to your area. There were no deaths of John Mollisons notified to the General Register Office for Scotland by the military in WW1. Local newspapers (or the churches ?) might be the last hope. Jock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coulson Posted 21 April , 2003 Author Share Posted 21 April , 2003 Jock, Thanks for your efforts, very much appreciated. I will track him down one of these days I hope. Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob HAmilton Posted 21 April , 2003 Share Posted 21 April , 2003 Bob Like you I have been unable to find the odd person on my local memorials and, like you, I find it most frustrating. However I have had some limited success by looking at the St Catherine's Index which should be available in your local library. This is a complete index of all births, marriages and deaths. This is useful when a man had served in the armed forces and was discharged, and then died some time later usually (although not necessarily always) from sickness or injury associated with his war service. They did not get registered with the CWGC but often appeared on their local memorial. I'm sure I don't have to point out to you that the people compiling the names for the memorials were sometimes quite careless and there were many misspellings/misunderstandings over names. I'll only quote you one that I came across. There was one man on a local memorial "P C Bush". I couldn't find any Bush with those initials or variations thereof. Eventually I discovered that before being recalled as a reservist in 1914 he was the local village policeman and when they came to put his name on the memorial they obviously didn't know his first names so they put P C instead. Doh !!! Regards Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coulson Posted 21 April , 2003 Author Share Posted 21 April , 2003 Rob, Thanks for that, I will certainly try St Catherines index. Totally agree with you about the info on local memorials, I've had numerous mis-spellings also different christian names and wrong battalion numbers. Never mind though it all adds to the interest. Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin Posted 23 April , 2003 Share Posted 23 April , 2003 Bob Just a thought have you checked the Normanby cemetery for John Mollison and also contacted the council(cemetery dept) ref John Mollison, there have helped me in the past and have come up with infomation that i required and more, at no cost. Regards Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coulson Posted 24 April , 2003 Author Share Posted 24 April , 2003 Kevin, Thanks to Terry Denham I have all the local cemetery registers for the area for WW1 but unfortunately no John Mollison to be found. Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin Posted 24 April , 2003 Share Posted 24 April , 2003 Bob What i mean is that may be he was not buried in a CWGC grave and just buried in a civilian grave, could be worth a try. Regards Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 24 April , 2003 Share Posted 24 April , 2003 It does not matter whether he was buried in a private grave or not. If he was an accepted war casualty, he would still appear in the CWGC lists unless he died after 31.08.21 or, after discharge, of causes not related to his war service. Having a private grave does not change this listing - only who looks after the grave! Either way his burial record will still be with the local cemetery authority whom I have always found to be very eager to help - usually for free. Church authorities, however, often make a charge for such assistance (about £16 I seem to remember). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coulson Posted 24 April , 2003 Author Share Posted 24 April , 2003 In relation to Terry's posting above, my local cemetery where I would have hoped to find John Mollison has the private grave of Richard Sandford VC, who died in a local hospital in late 1918. He is however still listed in the CWGC register for the cemetery. Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 24 April , 2003 Share Posted 24 April , 2003 I would guess that at least 30% of all official war graves in the UK have private graves. As I said this does not alter their war grave status and they all appear as Commonwealth War Dead in CWGC's database. There will also be private graves for Commonwealth servicemen/women who died in their home country. Same applies to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob HAmilton Posted 24 April , 2003 Share Posted 24 April , 2003 Bob I have found men named on memorials who are not on the CWGC site. They died after being discharged from the armed services and some of them appear to have died as a result of injuries or sickness from their war service. However they are buried in private graves so an approach to the local authority responsible for the cemetery may help. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 24 April , 2003 Share Posted 24 April , 2003 There are indeed many men on memorials who are not in the CWGC lists. This is, as Rob says, often due to their dying after discharge. If they died after discharge but before 01.09.21 and their death was PROVEN to be caused or hastened by war service, then they are accorded war grave status and appear in the lists. The problem is that so often it was not provable to the military authorities' satisfaction that the cause was war induced. The n-o-k often ascribed an early death to war privations but again could not prove it. These are the hardest group of 'missing' casualties to get accepted for war grave status because of this problem - even worse after eighty years have passed. The ad hoc committees who organised local war memorials did not always have the same criteria for adding names to their memorials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coulson Posted 25 April , 2003 Author Share Posted 25 April , 2003 I am beginning to think that John Mollison falls into the category described above by Terry. I will keep on looking however in the hope that one day his details may come to light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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